Monday, 21 April 2014

While it is true that science and technology are morphing the world
into a better place and we are witnessing some really wonderful
breakthroughs, the fact remains that not all benefits of technology are
being delivered to every place.For
instance; rural Africa still lacks lighting and once the darkness sets
in, it really is a problem to manage lighting. But such needs result in
inventions and so is the case over here. Meet Michael Suttner who
belongs to South Africa and is the person behind a innovative new
solution, Lightie. The Lightie is an LED module, solar powered, which
can be screwed into a standard bottle neck (22 mm).A
prototype was introduced and patented back in October, 2013. Suttner
entered a number of design contests – which he all won by the way – to
exhibit his gadget. He didn’t win the International DesignBoom Awards
due to a technicality (the product had to be available in market). The
whole idea took Suttner three years and now he stands as the proud owner
of his own gadget. He said; ‘Being on the doorstep to Africa here in
South Africa, there is a lot of awareness about how many don’t have
access to electricity and how many people die each year from paraffin
usage. I realized that the technology was there… I couldn’t understand
why this problem wasn’t being solved, so I decided I wanted to research a
little bit more.’ Suttner soon realized that the problem wasn’t the
availability of technology but rather mass distribution of it. He says;
‘I thought if I could solve the distribution problem, I could really
solve this problem on a global scale.’He
went on to focus on Coca Cola’s distribution model before realizing
that maybe he didn’t need a new distribution model but rather make use
of existing one and particularly speaking, he could employ the bottles
themselves to spread this technology throughout the world. Because come
to think of it; bottles are present everywhere. According to Suttner; ‘I
just thought if I could make it to look like this (while he waves the
bottle cap)and it could clip into a Coke bottle then surely Coke would
be interested in helping me distribute because it works with their Coke
bottles, which is their biggest byproduct. This was my thinking behind
the Lightie.’The
Lightie is well protected in the bottle, and Suttner is hopeful that he
can distribute it by coming up with an agreement with Coke. According
to Suttner, the Lightie will cost $10-13 and the specs of this gadget
are similar to the solar powered lighting currently available in the
market. According to Suttner, he has a lot of offers from different
companies but in his own words; I’d like to sit down with them and see
which company can help me realise the dream of solving this worldwide
problem. I hope in the next five years the Lightie will be on the shelf
next to Coca Cola, next to paraffin in all these poor countries around
the world as an alternative, so somebody can walk in and decide. That’s
my ultimate goal.’We wish him good luck! Check out the video below for more details: